Each week CAA News summarizes eight articles, published around the web, that CAA members may find interesting and useful in their professional and creative lives.

Conference Strategies for the Shy and Introverted

A comment on Twitter made me realize how many strategies I’ve developed over the past few years to deal with being shy and introverted in a conference environment. Caveats that these are a work in progress, they function best at small to midsized conferences, and I don’t always practice what I preach. (Read more from Jessica Otis.)

11 Studio Hacks That Will Save You Money in Art School

Back to school season means spending all that money you earned at your summer job on art supplies. In this helpful guide, we’ll share some money-saving studio hacks that will get you through the school year without maxing out your credit card. And only one tip involves Dumpster diving! (Read more from Artspace Magazine.)

Why Shamanic Practices Are Making a Comeback in Contemporary Art

“Everyone always talks about how, in times of crisis, people start looking for God,” says Jeremy Shaw. “And I think that’s very synonymous with what’s happening now.” Since his days at art school, Shaw has been exploring the human pursuit of transcendental experience by way of altered states of consciousness. (Read more from Artsy.)

White Supremacists Are Waging a War against Public Space

The Charlottesville attack threatens public space, an amenity that is both scarce and necessary for democracy. The idea of the public square is under attack. And the extremist alt-right is waging a campaign to shut down the public square, using both violence and intimidation, especially under open-carry laws. (Read more from City Lab.)

Now Is the Time to Think about Accessibility

As a new semester approaches, the academic’s to-do list can fill up fast. That course planning you’ve been putting off now seems urgent. Your chair wants a copy of your syllabi by the end of the week. And there’s still the matter of those writing deadlines. I’m here to add one more item to your list. Now is the time—not later—to think about accessibility in your classroom. (Read more from Vitae.)

Sociology Panel Seeks Changes for Adjuncts

The American Sociological Association’s Task Force on Contingent Faculty released its interim report ahead of the association’s annual meeting this week. The report includes an overview of the existing literature on non-tenure-track faculty members and recommends various policy changes. (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)

The Highest Form of Flattery

Why risk being classified as a mere imitator? In a new book entitled, with quiet provocation, Modern Painters, Old Masters: The Art of Imitation from the Pre-Raphaelites to the First World War, Elizabeth Prettejohn sets out to answer this question, even as she argues for a more expansive understanding of what counts as “modern art.” (Read more from the New York Review of Books.)

The 10 Best Artworks by Raphael, Seraphic Genius of the Renaissance—Ranked

To celebrate the artist’s enduring legacy, we surveyed ten of Raphael’s most popular paintings—determined by their presence on Google Images, the number of reproductions created, and our own aesthetic enthusiasms—and ranked them from one to ten, in order of their degree of accomplishment. (Read more from Artnet News.)